Random dump

My time here in Milwaukee is coming to an end. Soon I will be moving to Atlanta with my GF to start a new job. I'm pretty excited although I think I will miss many things about MKE. Change is good though, complacency bad.

Rock icon Paul Westerberg just released an internet only album that costs $0.49. You can buy it here. When I was buying it, I thought about how funny it would be it that 49 cent charge from paypal would make me over drawn on my bank account. Sadly, it's possible. In any event, the album is great. It is a bunch of songs and random tidbits, but you can only download it as one file. The idea, I suppose, is to encourage listening to the whole record rather than playing a few songs over and over while ignoring the others. I like the idea, but it only works if the whole things is worth listening to. It is.



Ok. This is one of the most exciting things (sad, I know) that has happened in a while. It took me over a year, but I finally beat 'The 100' on desktop tower defense and I was able to capture the moment with a perfectly executed screenshot. If you haven't played it before. I'll tell you it is the most addicting game you'll ever play. Anyway, now I don't really play it anymore b/c I've mastered it. Maybe they will come out with an updated version soon.

Original Gangster

Back around '97 or '98 I started my first personal webpage. There were record reviews, links to popular music sites, lame attempts at humor, and book reviews. It was called Exit 104 and it was hosted for free on angelfire.com. It lasted into 2001, but I quit adding content and now there is no trace of the website that I can find. I still have all the html and associated files. I should throw some up here when i get horribly desperate for content.

I once reviewed John Cheever's 'The Wapshot Chronicles.' I was way ahead of the game reviewing a book that had been published 40 years or so prior. I might has well reviewed something from James Joyce or Shakespeare.

I reviewed records from Blur, Boss Hog, Radiohead, and countless others. A big part of the website revolved around incorporating some of the photos I took of desolate scenes in North Dakota. Farms with dilapidated barns, dogs, crosses in the middle of a wheat field, anti-abortion billboards.

In some ways it was a blog before there were blogs, at least as much as I was familiar with the term. Fuck, I could have taken advantage of the whole blogger movement if I hadn't lacked talent, vision, or motivation. It's amazing how seemingly the simplest ideas have turned to www.gold.

Qotsa/Melt Banana

This past Wednesday I went to the Queens of the Stone Age show at The Rave in Milwaukee. I forked over 7.50/each for 3 miller lites, and watched one of my favorite bands standing immediately behind 5 dudes who were probably the starting lineup for 2002 Cudahy High basketball team. Now, apparently they've all become stoners who go to shows to smoke pot in public and stand listless while one of the greatest rock bands alive puts on a show. They weren't the only jerkoffs in the crowd. First of all, the guy girl ratio was about 10-1, and the dick to not-a-dick ratio was about the same. Exhibit A was the fuckwit who flicked a lit cigarette at Josh Homme near the end of one song. Exhibit B was about every fucking loser who I walked by as I tried to make my way through the crowd and to the bathroom. Not only were people not making any attempt to help me get by, several mouth-breathers made sure they stood their ground, sometimes throwing a light shoulder my way. Absolute homos.

The next night I went down to the Cactus Club to check out a Japanese noise-punk band named Melt Banana. They put on one hell of a show. They were fronted by a waifish woman, who belted out vocals that would make those chicks from Cibo Matto proud. The guitar player wore a mask as if he felt he was at risk for some airborne disease. Oddly enough, their merch guy had one on too.

Maritime

Thursday night Maritime played a free show at the Gasthaus, which is a basement bar/restaurant in the Union at UWM. Immediately upon entering the place I was overcome with the all too familiar smell of the Gasthaus' infamous french fries. If you have ever ordered food there, you'll know that it comes with about 8 pounds of these taters - and they are god awful. I wanna puke just thinking about them, even though I occasionally still eat them.

We had a few beers (PBR) before Maritime took the stage. I spotted lead singer and emo trailblazer Davey von Bohlen readying himself backstage, which also happened to be the mens bathroom. The show started off with was announced as the first three songs on the bands forthcoming record Heresy and the Hotel Choir, two of which can be downloaded off the labels' website and the video of another is embedded above. Those three songs sounded damn good, and gave me hope that the new record will measure up to the bands last one.

The rest of the show was very good as well, despite the less-than-optimal venue. There was a decent pocket of people near the stage that were into the show and then other people were strewn about sitting at tables and looking half-bored. Maybe they had all become ill from eating the food there.

Bloc Party

Last Tuesday Bloc Party came through Milwaukee and played at the Pabst Theatre downtown. I was introduced to Bloc Party in the summer of '05 by a friend on our way to our 10 year high school reunion. We listened to 'Silent Alarm' and I immediately fell in love with that record. Over two years later and I finally got a chance to see them live. Bloc Party released their sophomore record a handful of months ago - it is pretty rad as well, but isn't nearly as energetic as Silent Alarm.

This was the first time I had seen a show at the Pabst. Maybe it was where we were sitting - 3rd level in the balcony, but it sounded fucking amazing in there. As soon as we walked in I saw a giant sign advertising $3 tallboys of PBR and I knew this was going to be a good night. We were able to catch a good part of the set by the opening band called Smoosh. I felt like a dirty old man watching them play. The were pretty good though, even though their 8 year old bass player took off during the second song and never came back. The next group was named Final Fantasy. They were even more nerdy than the name implies - the band consisted of a dude with a violin connected to some kind of looping machine and a girl who placed art work over an overhead projector that seemed to go along with the different songs. Not as bad as it sounds.

Bloc Party opened up with the first song from 'Weekend in the City.' They covered what seemed like a good chunk of both albums, but most came from Silent Alarm. The highlight had to be when Kele made his way out into the crowd (with the help of a very long microphone cord) during 'She's Hearing Voices.' At some point he disappeared from view, only to return doing a backwards somersault just after getting on stage. Go see them if you have the chance.

The Detroit Cobras

A friend of mine was in a band that came through Milwaukee a few years ago and they played at Mad Planet. There was an all ages show in the afternoon and a 21+ later at night. Mad Planet is in Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee, which is a really awesome area, but it can get pretty shady especially if you go a little west on Center. At some point during the afternoon show I had a strange vision of someone bursting into the club and mowing a bunch of people down. I didn't think much of it at the time. Between the all ages show and the night we walked down to the Riverhorse and then on to the Foundation for a few drinks. We ended back up at Mad Planet in the "backstage" area downstairs. Some dude in a local band that was opening the evening show went into this long story about some massacre that occurred on New Year's Eve outside of what is now Mad Planet.

Last Thursday I ended up back at Mad Planet with a friend to catch the Detroit Cobras show. I had never really got into them, but I was able to give some of their stuff a bit of a listen before going to the show. What I had listened to was good, and the show they put on was great (see obligatory grainy cell phone photo).

Two bands preceded the Cobras, The Willowz and Dan Sartain. Dan Sartain was, I presume, Dan on guitar and vox, and some dude on drums. A two piece! Fucking awesome and t(he)y made a pretty great racket. Although apparently Dan had some pretty crunchy B.O. and he was spotted stealing a poster off the wall near the bar at Mad Planet. The Willowz, on the other hand, had absolutely no redeeming qualities. All of the band sported the same haircut despite the fact that they all seemed to vary greatly in terms of age, weight, and sex. The lead singer also made a conscious decision to don a Kid Rock-like hat and they fucking droned on for what seemed like hours. I went to the bathroom at some point during their set and heard the guy next to me remark to his friend that he "hoped for fucksake that they will be off the stage soon or that someone comes in and murders them."

Thoughts from an Interpol show

I went to the Interpol show with a friend of mine and we downed a couple beers before the show began. I have been trying to quit smoking for the last few years, and I am doing fairly well with it, but seeing live music and having a few drinks is a major cue for me to have a smoke. I had two cigarettes in my possession left over from a party the previous weekend. Like a complete retard I stuck the two ciggies in the pocket of my shorts without realizing that this would most likely cause them to get bent or perhaps break in half. They broke in half of course. Unfazed, I went into the bathroom just before the show started, entered one of the stalls, squeezed the tobacco out of one end, and smoked it like a joint while pretending to take a piss. Definitely a watershed moment in my life.

A few years ago being a fan of Interpol was prima facie evidence of having good taste in music. After the critical acclaim and greater popularity (and major label deal), I suspect the “cool” thing to do now is dump on them and say their most recent release doesn’t stack up to their two previous LPs. It very well may not; I have not heard the new record in its entirety, but judging from their recent appearance at The Rave in Milwaukee they are still crafting very good songs (insert played out Joy Division reference here).

I went back to the bathroom midway through the show relive the glory of smoking on a toilet. I came back out and watched the rest of the set. I was also keeping an eye on the really sweaty dude in front of us who would mouth the lyrics for the first part of every song, and then half way through he’d have his back to the stage and be talking to some other dude or trying to chat up a couple of obvious lesbians next to him.

I kept trying to take pictures of the band on my cell phone, but I was too far away and all of the pictures ended up looking like I was snapping shot of a Lite Brite board. We left the show quickly after the encore ended; rejecting the free Pete Yorn tickets the staff was trying to us as we walked out. I bet the sweaty dude was all over that shit.

T minus 24 hours

This time tomorrow I will be descending into McCarran for a quick two night Vegas trip with a few friends. Plans: Planet Hollywood/Sahara/other cheapo tourneys; Dealertainers; Cherry-breaking Pai Gow session; 20 dollar trick at check-in; betting on the Twins; ; Free booze; Buffets; Pizza Palace; Cash games at IP/MGM/PH. I'll try and whip up a decent trip report when I get back.

I got wind of this awesome thread on 2+2 where Steve Albini offered himself up to answer a ton of questions regarding pretty much anything. If you are a music nerd like me, you'll love it. The result turned out to be a very candid Q and A session between Albini (who trashes Urge Overkill about 100 times) and a bunch of people. I think the thread is still alive. You might remember my run-in with Steve at a 7CS table on pokerroom.com.

no, I didn't win this hand, and yes I spent 3 hours in a 2 dollar tourney for a whopping buck forty five.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to rgpars [Ks Kc]
rgpars: raises 1200 to 1600
DangIFold: folds
broncoook: folds
larry1dart: calls 292 and is all-in
strapNlefty: folds
Jonny B the1: calls 1600
Fabulez: folds
jdeere5220: folds
wizzardking: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh 6d 2s]
rgpars: bets 800
Jonny B the1: raises 7055 to 7855 and is all-in
rgpars: calls 3700 and is all-in

I was trying to pull off a "big" score in Little Chinatown by dabbling in some late night 8 bit donkfest clusterfuck tourney on pokerstars. No good.

I have a CD compilation of every great song from every great artist of the Nineteen Nineties. Wilson Phillips. LEN. Smashmouth. Screaming Trees. Blind Melon. Smashing Pumpkins. Daft Punk. Nirvana. Squirrel Nut Zippers. Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Des'ree. Portishead. Jawbox. Helium. Fastball. Dinosaur Jr. Boss Hog. The Beastie Boys. Green Day. Jets to Brazil. EPMD. Sonic Youth. Ice-T. Yo La Tengo. Jewel. Veruca Salt. Weezer. Tricky. Unwound. Nashville Pussy. Seaweed. Radiohead. Pizzicato 5. Superchunk. 411. Semisonic. Massive Attack. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Sleater Kinney. Fatboy Slim. Modest Mouse. Beck. Ice Cube. Bell Biv Devoe. The Black Crowes. INXS. Digital Underground. Foo Fighters. Built To Spill. Coldplay. The Breeders. At the Drive In. Snoop Dogg. Natalie Merchant. Black Sheep. Roni Size. Rage Against the Machine. Morphine. The Dismemberment Plan. The Get Up Kids. Helmet. Jimmy Eat World. Pixies. Tone-Loc. Public Enemy. Phil Collins. Air. The Delta 72. Unsane. SWV. Digable Planets. Dr. Dre. Chemical Brothers. PM Dawn. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Le Tigre. Sublime. Fiona Apple. Whitney Houston. The International Noise Conspiracy. Elliot Smith. Eminem. Kid N Play. Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock. Guns N Roses. Prince. Seal. Salt N Pepa. Presidents of the United States of America. The Wallflowers. Tom Cochrane. Live. REM. Naughty By Nature. No Doubt. U2. Juno. Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Rembrandts. Dave Mathews Band. Stone Temple Pilots. Fugazi. Mudhoney. LL Cool J. Nicki French. Dee-Lite. Janet Jackson.

Massive Nights

Here is your obligatory grainy cell phone picture of The Hold Steady performing last night at the Miramar in Milwaukee. I believe this was taken during the opening song "Stuck Between Stations," a personal favorite of mine. My GF and I were positioned stage right when the show began, the view was great but it sounded like shit and we moved after the first few songs. The concert was pretty awesome despite the fact that it got ridiculously hot towards the end and the staff at the Miramar did nothing (i.e. open the front doors) to cool it down. Before the show began, there were about 5 or 6 beers placed on the stage where each member of the band would be standing. To top it off there was a bottle of Jameson on an amp. Frontman Craig Finn took at least a few swigs during their set, and it seemed as though he had taken several before the band took the stage. It didn't seem like the band actually drank much of the beer and I guess it is probably kind of hard to drink a beer and play an instrument at the same time as they both require use of one's hands. I can excuse them for not being able to chug beers and rip away on a guitar at the same time, but I can't excuse the fact that the beer they were given (and presumably requested) was Budweiser. Right in front of our Miller-loving eyes. This is Milwaukee for f*** sake! Have a High Life or a Pabst. Shit, if you really wanted to show that you were down, you would polish off some Cream City Pale Ale or an Eastside Dark. Despite the poor choice of beer, The Hold Steady rocked ass. The band ripped through an impressive set that included most of the songs off of Boys and Girls in America, plus selected "classics" like Stevie Nix, Cattle and Creeping Things, Your Little Hoodrat Friend, Modesto is Not That Sweet, etc. Finn also managed to get booed for talking about the Minnesota Twins. It was pretty funny, and I love that a band that has received so much acclaim from the Indie (and mainstream) music press doesn't give a shit about being perceived as uncool for liking baseball. I think it was hard to grow up in Minnesota in the 80s and not develop a serious love for the Twins, I know I did and I relish it. I could give a shit about the Vikings or the Twolves, and don't even get me started about the North Stars (Norm Green, the offer to eat my shit still stands), but don't mess with my Twins. Whom, btw, are in Milwaukee this weekend. GO TWINS!